MEDAL TO COMMEMORATE POPE FRANCIS' VISIT TO AMERICA

The Pennsylvania Association of Numismatists will have medals commemorating the September visit of Pope Francis to America available for sale at the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money August 11 – 15 at PAN table 1957. PAN President, Tom Uram presented the idea to Archbishop Donald Cardinal Wuerl of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington at a meeting on January 28th 2015.

Cardinal Wuerl and Tom Uram agreed that such a wonderful idea should be done with a high level of quality and care. Tom immediately commissioned renowned sculptor and engraver Don Everhart to create the design work. The artwork was put forward as time became critical. To be able to reach a design agreement and allow enough time for Don Everhart to sculpt it and get it into production became a formidable challenge.

The essence of the medal focuses on the Pope’s visit to Washington D.C. on September 23rd, 2015. Don produced a beautiful image of Pope Francis that captures his warmth and charm on the obverse and a reverse that features the three Washington D.C. iconic domes, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, and the dome of the U.S. Capitol building.

The medals were produced at the Northwest Territorial Mint and were just delivered to PAN on Friday, August 7th. The sizes and pricing are: 3” silver with black enamel and 24k gold embellishment at $450, 3” bronze with black enamel at $100, and 1.75” silver with gold embellishment at $150. The 3” medals are housed in a beautiful custom wood box that are back ordered and will ship later.

The medals will also be on sale through the PAN website at www.pancoins.org after the ANA show. The Basilica of the National Shrine gift shop will have a 1.75” bronze version with a single Basilica dome reverse available for sale.

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